- Global wind and solar company, Mainstream Renewable Power (Mainstream) has announced that twelve of its projects have won preferred bidder status in Round 5 of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP).
The wind and solar projects, which have a total capacity of 1.27GW, represent half of the total allocation in the Round, which was the most competitive to date and almost 4 times oversubscribed.
This brings Mainstream’s total winnings to over 2.1GW awarded to date, including 850MW of wind and solar generation assets already delivered into commercial operation across Rounds 1, 3 and 4 of the REIPPPP. Mainstream has achieved several firsts in the REIPPP including constructing South Africa’s first self-build substation as well as bringing the first projects to financial close and to complete construction in Rounds 1, 3 and 4.
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The Mainstream-led consortium, named Ikamva which means “the future” in Xhosa, will deliver six onshore wind projects and six solar PV projects, including the first REIPPPP project in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. The consortium brings together a range of expertise, led by Mainstream’s 100% African team of over a hundred professionals, and comprises Globeleq, Africa Rainbow Energy & Power, H1 Holdings and local community trusts.
As a result of its projects being awarded preferred bidder status, Mainstream will double the size of its South African team and will be actively recruiting another 100 South Africans to support the engineering and construction of the 12 projects.
According to Mainstream, the projects will produce approximately 4,500GWh of green electricity each year, helping to avoid nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum, once fully operational. The projects will provide South Africans with critical, low-cost, indigenous power and help deliver a just transition towards clean energy and climate goals.
Mainstream’s General Manager for Africa, Hein Reyneke said: “We are delighted to be chosen to contribute further to the decarbonisation of South Africa. It is a demonstration of faith in Mainstream’s track record of efficient and reliable delivery not only here in South Africa but also internationally, where we are currently building ten wind and solar PV projects simultaneously, totalling 1.35GW in Chile. Our latest win will deliver enormous social, economic and environmental benefits for South Africa.
Author: Zeenat Ganie
This article was originally published on ESI Africa and is republished with permission with minor editorial changes.
